The 50 best rap lyrics of all time: Complete list
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See also:
- The 50 worst rap lyrics: The complete list
- The 50 worst rock/pop lyrics of all time: The complete list
- The ten best storytellers in hip-hop
50. Mos Def - "Mathematics"
"Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients/Youngbloods can't spell, but they could rock you in PlayStation."
Mos Def raises the stakes of this rhyme in the first line by presenting the challenges humanity faces in this day in age. He then pairs this with a commentary on the priorities of the day's youth, who are more concerned with video games than practical knowledge. When combined, the gap between what we need and what he have is clear and startling.
49. Wale - "Is There Any Love?"
"You niggas so-so like a seamstress."
Wale is a cool cat, and his wordplay here is seamless. The image of a seamstress sitting at her machine, running through mundane line after line, just seems to fit with a mediocre rapper, so the simile is so apt. And he makes it sound easy and fluent -- like a finger roll in basketball. It's tough to make it look so simple.
48. CL Smooth - "They Reminisce Over You"
"T to the R-uh-O-Y, how did you and I meet?/In front of Big Lou's, fighting in the street/But only you saw what took many time to see/I dedicate this to you for believing in me."
The whole purpose of this song, as indicated in the title, is to honor memory and reminisce about a friend who's passed. The story of how Troy and CL met may seem incidental, but it is those kinds of idiosyncratic specifics that make the story so genuine and the nostalgia so poignant. The believability of the meeting story makes CL's thank-you to Troy that much more powerful.
47. Lauryn Hill - "Zealots"
"And even after all my logic and my theory/I add a "Motherfucker" so you ignorant niggas hear me."
Lauryn Hill gives a taste of her biting wit and humor, commenting on the state of music -- hip-hop in particular. It's a great line, because the "motherfucker" does stand out in Lauryn's otherwise clean verse; it perks you up, but she's still using the word in an enlightened manner, thus getting the point across without compromising the quality of her lyrics.
46. Scarface - "No Tears"
"I got this killa up inside of me/I can't talk to my mother so I talk to my diary."
It's funny how it can be easier to talk to the world than to your own mother. Scarface's rap was his diary, and this song comes off his album named, that's right, The Diary. This line speaks to how important rap is -- how important any form of expression is -- to the artist as more than just a career or way to entertain. Some rappers pour their souls into their lyrics, and you can bet that a rapper like Scarface wouldn't dare use a potentially effeminate word like "diary" unless he was doing just that.
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57 comments
"I got a disease
yeah, whatch you catch?
it's an STD, but you aint never gonna nut
cause it comes from a loan- niggas see you getting fucked"
-The Coup
still my favorite line of all times
This article was such shit. No Pharcyde, De La, ATCQ. Just some assclown listing HIS 50 fav rap lines.
Who the hell made this list??? Not one Guru/Gang Starr
lyric on here...and the fact that Lil B even made the list is pathetic.
FAIL!!!!!!!
Outkast? Whodini? Cypress hill? Too short, lol Etc.. I
didn't get chance to look at whole list.. I was in the generation, when
break dancing started. So many.
I don't agree with no. 1 or 2. And snoop #28? :(
is. LL cool J on list? I'm going to faint, if they forgot bone thugz.
Lol
Wutang has got thee hardest MCs in the game. They come
hard as nails on the track. There's so many cat in the hat ass rappers
on this list. Not one KRS line? Please. Where's Easy? What about Bone
Thugs? No surrender is lyrical gold, and fast as hell. This list doesn't
hit the mark for me.
does anyone see that lil wayne i feel like dying is on
this list twice? is there two versions of this song or is the list that
horrible?
Dude.. cmon. You just listed a bunch of clear channel
crap. Listen to real Hip Hop then you can make an article. WU TANG. WU
TANG.
I bomb atomically, Socrates’ philosophies
And hypotheses can’t define how I be droppin these
Mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me
Battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits
Tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics
I inspect view through the future see millenium
Killa Beez sold fifty gold sixty platinum
Shackling the masses with drastic rap tactics
Graphic displays melt the steel like blacksmiths
Black Wu jackets Queen Beez ease the guns in
Rumble with patrolmen tear gas laced the function
Heads by the score take flight incite a war
Chicks hit the floor, diehard fans demand more
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly
Proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
Stomp grounds I pound footprints in solid rock
Wu got it locked, performin live on your hottest block
And hypotheses can’t define how I be droppin these
Mockeries, lyrically perform armed robbery
Flee with the lottery, possibly they spotted me
Battle-scarred shogun, explosion when my pen hits
Tremendous, ultra-violet shine blind forensics
I inspect view through the future see millenium
Killa Beez sold fifty gold sixty platinum
Shackling the masses with drastic rap tactics
Graphic displays melt the steel like blacksmiths
Black Wu jackets Queen Beez ease the guns in
Rumble with patrolmen tear gas laced the function
Heads by the score take flight incite a war
Chicks hit the floor, diehard fans demand more
Behold the bold soldier, control the globe slowly
Proceeds to blow swingin swords like Shinobi
Stomp grounds I pound footprints in solid rock
Wu got it locked, performin live on your hottest block
This list is WHACK!! Come on man, No Canibus, No GZA,
No Ghostface, No Outkast, No JayZ...Who ever made this list DOES NOT
listen to HIPHOP!!!
I like that hops in is on this list, but Lil Wayne and
shit? HELL NAW. Ever heard of Tech N9ne or Potluck? This list was shit.
ONLY good lyrics were hops in and 2pac. -_-
Honestly, #6 is a witty lyric, but it makes me sad
because Jay Z knows he doesn't have to try to be good anymore, and that
saddens me. Because he used to be good. And like I, and other people,
have said, just because you're aware of sucking, doesn't mean you're
excused for sucking.
Temperatures rises
Niggaz blinded by my lyrical disguise
No time to plot retreats
Niggaz shiver and die
Multiple rounds found laced
In his body and face
Wrapped in plastic the acid, erased all traces
Criminal tactics the rap game
Became so drastic
Military mind mashed all the walls they blasted
If we bleed then they suffocate
Chokin in terror
So we strive singularize we reflect in the mirrors
The prophecy is clear
Niggaz lock n load disappear
Strategize with no fear
Waging war for years - (street fame)
And though my soul was deleted, I couldn't see it
I had my mind full of demons tryin to break free
They planted seeds and they hatched, sparkin the flame
inside my brain like a match, such a dirty game-(so many tears)
what y'all niggaz crazy-pac destroyed the rap game..
Niggaz blinded by my lyrical disguise
No time to plot retreats
Niggaz shiver and die
Multiple rounds found laced
In his body and face
Wrapped in plastic the acid, erased all traces
Criminal tactics the rap game
Became so drastic
Military mind mashed all the walls they blasted
If we bleed then they suffocate
Chokin in terror
So we strive singularize we reflect in the mirrors
The prophecy is clear
Niggaz lock n load disappear
Strategize with no fear
Waging war for years - (street fame)
And though my soul was deleted, I couldn't see it
I had my mind full of demons tryin to break free
They planted seeds and they hatched, sparkin the flame
inside my brain like a match, such a dirty game-(so many tears)
what y'all niggaz crazy-pac destroyed the rap game..
Immortal technique. K rino. Canibus. Tech 9. These are real rappers not corporate puppets.
Wtf^ Jay z is the most lyrical mc ever to pick up a
mic. If you dont at least consider him top 5 DEAD OR ALIVE besides
being a idiot you know nothing about rap music.
Who put this together, a bunch of 12 year olds? There is
absolutely no way any contemporary talkers or Jay-Z should be anywhere
near the top 10.
There's several different level's to devil worshiping,
horses heads human sacrifices, cannibalism candles and exorcism. Animals
and having sex with them camels, mammals and rabbits but I don't get
into that I kicked the habit....
I got a lion in my pocket I'm lying, I got a 9 in my pocket and baby I'm just dying to cock it.
Em's Verse from Dead Wrong was SICK
I got a lion in my pocket I'm lying, I got a 9 in my pocket and baby I'm just dying to cock it.
Em's Verse from Dead Wrong was SICK
What about, A Tribe Called Quest?! Dr. Dre?! "Why do I
need I.D. to get I.D., if I had I.D. I wouldn't need I.D." - Common.
Horrible list!
When rap broke into the mainstream (more-or-less) in
1987 or 1988, it was urgent and had something important to say. It
wasn't good music, but it was sort of an urban punk rock and I now
appreciate it for being the CNN of the poor black community back then.
The big three were Ice T, NWA, and Public Enemy, but it didn't take long
for the entire genre to be watered down by the realization that there
was a ton of money to be made, selling the overwhelmingly negative
inner-city sound to upper middle class white kids. Now, it's just a
parody of itself and the platform from which that obnoxious bass sound
drones, for all intents and purposes dead as an ideal, murdered by its
own greed.
This is a sad tribute, probably penned by a writer born
after 1985. If you were, in fact, born before then, I really and deeply
feel sorry for you. For example, Lil Wayne is not a hip-hop artist. He
is a performer. Why he places twice in this list is confusing and
altogether false. The writer of this article is rather wrong and, to my
mind uninformed.
Back before whoever wrote this was born, there was
Eazy-E and N.W.A. and they threatened to unravel the fabric of
civilization. -One sucker dead, LA Times, front page.
This document should be blank, since rap is
intellectually, morally, and creatively bankrupt. Branding something
"best rap lyrics" is like winning the Special Olympics.
I believe it. With so many songs about bitches and ho's
and shooting up someone, I'm sure it's hard to find 50 rap lyrics that
don't promote violence and mysogeny.
Spy vs. Guy 
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